Chicago Tribune - March 23, 2005

From those sad and, perhaps, inauspicious beginnings, Zulu, 29, transformed herself into an HIV/AIDS educator, radio personality and activist who has met with President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Irish Parliament.

Finding out she was HIV positive eight years ago was the catalyst for her.

"I just had a passion," Zulu said during a recent visit to Chicago as part of a tour sponsored by UNAIDS and the World Vision HIV/AIDS Hope Initiative. The tour included visits to New York, Nashville, Miami and Washington, D.C.

Zulu (Princess is her first name, not a title) said she vowed "I'll make a difference." That meant going public about her HIV status, even though her husband and church were against it.

Undaunted, she went to schools and workplaces to talk about how HIV/AIDS is spread and how people can protect themselves.

As a 14-year-old orphan, Zulu knew only that her parents wasted away and died of a mysterious illness. Later she suspected that it was AIDS. With others in her care and school fees to pay, she had no choice but to marry a man nearly 25 years her senior, she said.

Zulu said that for the sake of her children, she doesn't talk about how she was infected, saying only that she is grateful for the "miracle" that her two daughters, ages 9 and 11, are free of HIV and that she has been healthy.

Men are "the drivers of the epidemic," she said.

One-woman initiative

On her own initiative, Zulu targeted truck drivers for a one-woman education campaign. She dressed up like a prostitute and hitchhiked, figuring truckers would pick her up. After she climbed into their trucks, she said, they were shocked when she told them: "I'm on a mission. I'm not here to sleep with you," and began to talk about HIV.

In addition to early marriage, prostitution is a way women with no means often earn money to feed their families, she said.

Poverty and gender inequality are widespread in Zambia (the former Northern Rhodesia), a country east of Angola, in southern Africa, Zulu said.

"We in World Vision have a program where women can go into microenterprise development, be trained in skills or sent back to school," she said.

Businesses empower women

Microenterprises, which provide entrepreneurial opportunities, empower women so they won't be economically dependent on men, Zulu said.

World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide by tackling the causes of poverty.

Zulu said the heralded ABC strategy of HIV/AIDS prevention--Abstain, Be faithful, use a Condom--works for "special groups that may need that approach" but does not address the problems of incest and rape that often lead to HIV infection in women.

Serious and sober when talking about AIDS and the pressing needs of women and children, Zulu often spoke so vehemently that her ivory earrings danced. Still, she was apt to burst into an infectious laugh when talking about some of her bold behavior in the name of educating others.

Zulu hopes that when her commitment to the World Vision tour ends, she can resume her nationally syndicated radio program, "Positive Living," and finish her high school education.

She plans to continue training others to care for AIDS patients and teach HIV/AIDS prevention measures to Zambian youth.

"We have been talking about the tsunami, and it was a bad thing," she said, referring to the huge loss of life in Asia in December.

"But the tsunami happens every week--the tsunami of HIV and AIDS. When you are talking about 40 million people living with HIV, that means more than 60 percent of that number are women in Africa living on $1 a day and, with poverty, likely to die early."

Nevertheless, she believes that "we can make a difference even if it sounds like a hopeless situation. If the children from age 5 to 15 are enrolled in schools and get accurate information on HIV, they will be an HIV-free generation."

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